Catherine The Great
by Melkur
Summary: Catherine Madison, Amy's mother, breaks free from her statue prison & goes on a killing spree to find the 'perfect' body to take over to seek revenge on 'The Slayer'. (My 'sequel' to 1.3 - 'Witch'). This may contradict other episodes, as I have so far only seen up to 1.9. (Reviews greatly appreciated) (Stars Catherine Madison, but the character doesn't appear in the character list)
1. Chapter 1 - Introduction The Return

Catherine Madison was **dead**, **everyone** knew it – Amy, her daughter, knew that, Buffy & Willow knew that… Even Cordelia Chase, Sunnydale High School's "prom queen bitch" knew that & delighted in making the occasional 'snide' remark about it. But still, there Catherine stood minute after minute, hour after hour, day after day, still** quite** alive but trapped within her cheerleading trophy from her tenure at Sunnydale High School in the 60's, plotting her revenge on Buffy Summers, this generation's fabled "Slayer"…

Catherine began muttering a spell to free herself from her prison. Yes she had been away from her cauldron, her ingredients, her books, her 'life force' for a long time now, but there was still a small amount of magical energy flowing inside of her, perhaps enough, she hoped, to free her.

She strains, still muttering as she goes, trying to break free. Admittedly she was trapped in several pounds worth of approximately 10 carat gold, but slowly but surely it began to crack around her, loosening around her like a chick breaking free from an egg.

Moments later, Catherine's spirit was free once more. She would have, of course, preferred to have kept her body, but, as she was now free from her golden prison she deemed it to be a worthy sacrifice – All she needed to do was find herself another body (preferably a relative to be as close to her 'original' as possible, but as Amy believed her to be dead she supposed that she was out of the question) &, once she did, she would be free to exact her revenge on the Slayer…


	2. Chapter 2 - A New Body, At Last

The school bell rang, signaling the end of first lesson and the beginning of the second, as Catherine's spirit quickly, silently, glides through the central school corridor, searching out a suitable 'target' for her to take control of. It was more difficult than usual this time, due to the fact that she no longer had a corporeal form to call her own, so she had to choose her 'target' wisely this time, as the person she chose would cease to be & their soul would simply be killed when the transference had been completed. So, probably best to choose a 'decent' victim so that she would have all the time she needed to complete her 'task' of seeking vengeance on Buffy for preventing her from becoming a cheerleader once more & then deflecting her magic back onto her, destroying her body, confining her to that **wretched** statue.

As good it would be to take over Buffy's body, destroying her soul forever it was clear to Catherine that it would be more 'fun' to toy with her, to make it just that little bit 'fairer' on her, more even, and besides, it would wear her out to the point where she wouldn't be able to fight back, making it the **perfect** moment for her to strike.

Down below her in the now near empty corridor, Catherine could see a group of 'prom queen' girls picking on a "unattractive" brunette girl carrying two large bags & about a dozen books, almost like that Willow girl Buffy seemed to 'hang around' with. They trip her, sending her books flying across the floor. They laugh & leave. Catherine had once been one of those girls, those who thought the world revolved around them, & it was true, she supposed – The 'haves' & the 'have-nots', the leaders & the slaves. Oh how she missed those times, but, she supposed, that was what she was doing all this for, to be able to relive those 'long gone days' where she would 'rule' the school & be the best cheerleader in the state.

Ceasing her opportunity to 'take over' the girl Catherine descended as she was scrambling over the floor trying to collect her books as quickly as she could so she wouldn't be late for class, without the help of anyone, who just continued walking to & through, the occasionally kicking a book further down the corridor for 'fun'. In a display of 'electric purple' light Catherine made her presence made to the girl now alone in the corridor, carrying a huge, almost insanely evil grin upon her cold, white, near dead face.

The transference was almost simultaneous, but still long enough for 'the girl' to let out a near blood curdling shriek. Several teachers rapidly lean out of their respective rooms to see what all the 'commotion' was. Catherine stands up fully straight, books in hand, & gives them all a deliberately awkward smile. After a few moments they all return back inside their rooms, muttering.

A "Are you alright, miss Gilmore?" comes from the end of the corridor behind Catherine. She turns around, almost stunned. It was Rupert Giles, the librarian at Sunnydale that Buffy knew, who Catherine could swear that, if she hadn't known he'd only been around for a few months, had been around since her time there.

Catherine takes a few steps towards him slowly, allowing him time to reach her. She thinks for a couple of seconds before eventually coming up with 'nothing better than' a simple, near idiotic, "… I saw a rat…?..." She gestures at how 'large' the imaginary rat was. She sucks some air in through her teeth & smiles. "… I swear…" she decided to add, quickly, almost as if to add a touch more credibility to her story. Giles stared at her, almost as if he was studying her like one of those unnecessarily large books of his in that stupid library he & the Slayer spent so much time in. After a few seconds he nods, looks down at his watch (10.05am) & then back up at Catherine "**right**, **well** miss Gilmore, rat or not it seems as if you're 5 minutes late for whichever lesson you have now so, 'be off with you' & all that". They awkwardly smile at each other before rapidly heading off in the opposite direction.

"**That was close**" Catherine thought, adjusting the bags that the girl whose body she stole was carrying, occasionally checking behind herself to see that Giles had definitely gone. "Perhaps a few seconds more & he may have realized who I really am…" Reaching a bin she drops the books she's carrying into them. "But, now that I have a new 'form' & the element of surprise there's nothing that the Slayer can do to stop me now!" she cackles 'swaggering' down the corridor, as if almost 'tasting' her future victory. "& now **soon**, **very soon** you will face my power for the second & **final **time!..."


	3. Chapter 3 - To Catch A Slayer

Now all Catherine needed to do was to track Buffy down. It shouldn't be **too** hard she reasoned – It was a school day & Buffy didn't seem to be the kind of girl who skipped school on a regular basis, every once in a while but not all the time (but then who did? – Rule number 2 of skipping class is "skip rarely to preserve the 'specialness'", was it not?) Catherine strained at the remainders of Victoria, 'Vicki', Bernice Gilmore's residual memories trying to see if she had any clue of where Buffy would be. 'The trace' of her memories was weak, of course it would, it was such a 'forceful' take over it was remarkable that there was barely anything left to go through, but, from what she could see Vicki had several classes a week with her, so, she supposed, a fabrication was in order to gain Buffy's attention. Yes, that was what she was going to do, she chuckled – Lure her into an isolated spot & then dispose of her **once & for all**. She smiled, assured of her plan, heading to second period math with Mr. Lake where she knew Buffy would be.

Fifty minutes later the bell rang once more & the class plowed out of the room, eager for just a few moments worth of rest & relaxation before one last lesson before lunch. Catherine catches Buffy up whom, along with Xander & Willow were heading to the library to visit Giles once more.

"**Uh**, **Buffy**…" She says, gently tapping her on the shoulder, "can I ask you something?" Buffy stops, quickly looks behind her to see "Vicki" standing behind her. She then looks forwards, back at Xander & Willow who have continued a few feet on before turning to look back at her "I'll catch you to up in a minute", they nod & walk on. 'So', Buffy asks, looking back round to "Vicki", 'What is it you want?' 'Um', Catherine stutters, suddenly realizing she couldn't think of what to say next, "Miss Gellar says that I seem to be behind the rest of the class in _ & suggested that I should seek you out as you are one of the top people in the class, so, uh, I was wondering, if it wasn't too inconvenient for you, that you could, maybe, help me out for an hour or two after school today?" Buffy gives her an 'ok?' look, almost as if she was unsure of what "Vicki" was saying. '**Uuuuh**, I have a "thingy" later on this evening, **but um**' she pauses, thinks for a moment before slowly, subtlety, looks "Vicki", trying to sense if she has been taken control of by some demonic force. Determining that, based on appearance at least, she wasn't Buffy gives in, 'sure, fine, whatever. I suppose an hour or so couldn't hurt – At least it'll give me an excuse to go through everything again before the big test we have next week…' "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Catherine proclaims, like the over eager "book worm" of a way that Vicki would do. Luring her into a false sense of security, Catherine then overenthusiastically smiles & leaps onto Buffy, hugging her – "You **won't** regret it, **I swear it**!" 'Ooookay…' Buffy replies, as if both shocked & stunned by what just happened. 'So, when & where do you want to meet?' "Um, how about the graveyard at St. Andrews about an hour or so after school, I live right nearby there" Catherine replies tilting her head, continuing on in an almost Willow type of voice "my house can be hard to find if you don't know where to look…" Buffy looks deep into Catherine's eyes, trying to see if she can trust her, as well as to see if she can recognize any force that may, or may not as the case may be, controlling her. '**Well**, **anyway** - I need to catch up with Willow & Xander, but 'til then I suppose'. "Bye, I guess…" Buffy smiles, waves goodbye, and turns to face the direction Willow & Xander went, & rushes off down the corridor. Catherine smiles & cackles evilly to herself, "Well 'Slayer' it looks like you're all mine now". She takes some what appears to be dust from out of her pocket, sprinkles some upon the ground &, in a flash of light, she disappears from out of existence.


End file.
